[251] Travels in Circassia, &c. in 1835, by Edmund Spencer, Esq., vol. ii. p. 355. Julius von Klaproth, in the work quoted below, says, (p. 582.), that the wealth of the Circassians consists principally in their sheep, from whose wool the women make coarse cloth and felt. In the summer they drive their sheep into the mountains, but feed them under cover in winter, and at other times in the plains. [252] Dr. Goodenough, in Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. i. p. 110. See also Major Rennell’s Map of Western Asia. [253] Chardin’s Travels, vol i. p. 77. 108. of the English Translation. London, 1686. But, besides the general inference that the Coraxi occupied part of the modern Circassia, we are able to determine their abode with still greater precision, and even obtain some insight into their distinctive characters as a nation. At the south-eastern extremity of Chirkess, or Circassia, on the northern declivity of Mount Elborus, and about the sources of the Kuban, the ancient Hypanis, we find a mountain clan, consisting of rather more than 250 families, which appears to retain not only the manners and habits, but even the very name of the Coraxi. Julius von Klaproth, to whom we are principally indebted for our knowledge of them, calls them the Caratshai[254]. From him we learn the following particulars respecting their appearance, manners, and employments. They are among the most beautiful of the inhabitants of Caucasus, and more like the Georgians than the wandering Tartars of the Steppe. _They are well formed, and have fine features, which are set off by large black eyes and a white skin._ Their language resembles that of the Nogay-Tartars. They live in very neat houses, built of pine. Their children are _strictly_ and _well_ educated; and in general it may be said of them, that they are the most cultivated nation in Caucasus, surpassing all their neighbors in refinement of manners. They are very _industrious_, and subsist chiefly by agriculture. Their soil is productive, and, besides various kinds of grain, yields abundance of grass for pasture. The country around them is covered with woods, which abound with wild animals, such as bears, wolves, wild goats, hares, and wild cats, whose skins are much prized, and martins. _Their dress is chiefly made of woollen cloth, which they weave themselves from the produce of their flocks, and which is admired throughout the whole of Caucasus. They sell their cloth_, called by them _Shal_[255], their _felt_ for _carpeting_, and their furs, partly to the Nogay-Tartars and Circassians, from whom they purchase articles of metal, and partly _at Souchom-Kalé, a Turkish fort on the Black Sea_, which contains shops and ware-houses, and carries on a considerable trade with the Western Caucasus. They receive here in return goods of _cotton_ and _silk_, tobacco and tobacco-pipes, needles, thimbles, and otter-skins. While